𝑶𝑷𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑻𝑬, ranboo x male oc

𝑭𝑰𝑽𝑬.

DISCLAIMER! this story is based off the timeline of Ranboo's streaming career, but the events are mostly FICTIONAL and solely for story purposes.

(Warning for angst for this chapter, a bit of fluff here and there.)

September 15, 2021.

Ranboo has been in the UK for almost three months now. It startles him how fast time has flown since he first got there.

He's also been having frequent nightmares the past few months.

And he might or might not know the reason why.

"Hey Ranboo?" Oh shit, yeah. He was hanging out with Tommy.

He gives a short hum in response.

Tommy, out of his 'online persona' was actually an incredibly caring friend. He can usually tell when the energy is off, at least with Ranboo. They've grown a lot closer ever since they met up in person for the first time.

"What's wrong man? You haven't been saying anything." he tries to scan over the taller's face for some sort of hint or smudge of context.

The other lets out a yawn. "Just zoned out, happens a lot."

"Well if you zoned out you must have been distracted by something." Tommy sighs. "I won't push you to tell me anything mate, but I'm really fucking worried."

Ranboo spikes a brow in confusion. "Worried? Why?"

"It's been happening a lot with you recently, especially when we're with a lot of people."

"Just confused why I've been having nightmares frequently. Hasn't happened in... a while, to say the least."

Tommy shifted his sitting position on the grass they were sitting on. "When did these nightmares start?"

"A few weeks into staying in the UK, which is really odd and heavily coincidental."

"Do you know why?" At this point Tommy was really curious and really concerned. Despite the two of them being close for a few months, he still didn't know shit about his life. Sure, he saw his face, he knew where he lived, knew he had both his parents, but other than that, not much else.

Ranboo faltered for a bit. Only Tubbo has known about this, but that was months ago. He could've forgotten about it by now. "It's just... something I've observed. I don't know if it's the actual reason."

"Well? Go on and tell me!" Tommy backtracked immediately. "Only if you want to."

Silence fell over them for a few minutes until Ranboo found the courage to speak up. "I had a necklace given to me that I forgot to bring—"

"How is that supposed to relate to?—"

"You didn't let me finish. It was an opalite necklace. I read somewhere that opalite is meant to be used to stabilize moods, get people's minds off serious topics, basically any healing purposes. And... when I looked into it more, apparently it also helps people avoid night terrors."

"Holy shit man. I might start believing in this stuff."

Tommy had a few questions in mind about the whole idea, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to push it.

"I know you have more questions, just go ahead and ask. I don't mind. If I don't want to answer, I won't."

"So... where exactly did you get this necklace?"

Ranboo lets out a soft laugh, reminiscing the fond memory. "I, uh, my friend gave it to me years ago."

"How about you ask them, then?"

He holds back a laugh. It shouldn't be funny to him at all, but Tommy's cluelessness caught him off guard.

Tommy raises a brow. "What's so funny?"

"They're uh, kinda dead."

The younger's eyes widen in surprise. "Oh. I— uh— sorry for your loss, king."

Ranboo makes a gesture with his hand. "No it's fine but uh, maybe it's about time I told you."

"Go on, I'll be listening."

"Uh, Luca, but I prefer to call him Lu. Our families were really close growing up, we'd be invited to dinners over each other's houses all the time. It wasn't until one time when we were around nine, maybe eight, that he gained the courage to talk to me. We were both shy kids, around a huge group of adults, siblings who were payed more attention to, but we were around the same age."

The blonde gives a hum in response, signaling it was okay for him to go on.

"He knew I was anxious, it wasn't hard to tell if you stared at me for a maximum of five minutes. But then he pulled me out of the dinner table and brought us to his room. We clicked instantly. It's really funny that it took us nine years to talk for once, and then we instantly gained a connection."

"And then...?"

"It went well, for a while. We were our greatest sources of comfort when we went through rough times. But that only lasted until a few weeks before we turned fifteen."

"I'm scared to ask what happened."

"Don't be. There was something he said that surprised me, and obviously I got mad. He quickly tried to explain after seeing the shock on my face, but I ran from him. What he said was still wrong, very wrong, and I won't excuse it. But I wish I at least stayed to get some context to his thought process."

"What did he say?"

The taller gulped. Just thinking of it makes him sick to his fucking stomach. "Something uh, homophobic towards my friend."

"That fucking jerk! I'm gonna beat his ass—"

"Tommy he's dead. The only thing you'll be able to kick is his tombstone, and maybe he'll haunt you too."

Ranboo cleared his throat before speaking up again. "Anyways, that's not all. A week after that incident, his family moved away. To this day I don't know if it's my fault or not."

"Why would it be your fault? He's the one who was homophobic towards your other friend."

"Look... we were from different schools. He was bullied there, shamed for how he stood out, he could barely pay attention to his classes. The only escape he really ever had was when he'd get picked up from school, riding back to either one of our houses, maybe going to the arcade or to the park where we could get ice cream, if it was a Friday or Saturday. His parents weren't too focused on him either, had high expectations, judge mental if given the chance. He was forced to grow up at a young age to raise his younger siblings since his parents were overall too busy for him."

"How do you get over someone so important in three years? From what I've heard, it sounds like it would last you a lifetime."

Ranboo falls silent. Has he really gotten over it? It's always just been easier to avoid after being met with the most overwhelming experiences, blowing up on twitch, traveling across the world to see your friends, and with the thought of millions of people knowing who you are. But as he took a moment to fall back into reality, he remembers how he never got closure, was left to deal with unanswered questions, sleepless nights, and now at the slight mention of it, it starts to break everything that he's built up, and leaves a stinging pain in his eyes from the welled up tears.

"I haven't."

—

Sorry for the sad chapter haha :,) I swear you'll be getting fluff soon <3